Gov.-elect Nathan Deal left Congress this year but still made the list of 2010’s “most embarrassing re-elects” compiled by a Washington advocacy group. The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), which filed the 2009 complaint that led to a congressional ethics investigation of Deal, described him as a “new governor to watch” in a just-released report.

More than $90,000 improperly paid to U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal’s chief of staff has wound up in the hands of a Gainesville charity. Chris Riley, Deal’s top congressional aide, had to return the money to the campaign last year because the payments exceeded outside income limits for highly paid Congressional staffers. Deal’s latest disclosure report, filed April 15, shows the congressman’s campaign wrote a check in February for $91,124 to Good News at Noon.